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Video: the making of Conrad Shawcross’s courtyard installation

Video: the making of Conrad Shawcross’s courtyard installation

By Amy Macpherson

Published 21 May 2015

Take a look behind the scenes at the making of ‘The Dappled Light of the Sun’.

The sculptures of Conrad Shawcross RA explore subjects that lie on the borders of geometry and philosophy, physics and metaphysics. For the 2015 Summer Exhibition’s Annenberg Courtyard installation, Shawcross has created a large-scale, immersive work consisting of five steel, cloud-like forms. These are made from thousands of tetrahedrons and stand at over six metres high and weigh five tonnes each.

“The Greeks considered the tetrahedron to represent the very essence of matter,” Shawcross says. “In this huge work I have taken this form as my ‘brick’, growing these chaotic, diverging forms
that will float above the heads of visitors who will be able to wander beneath them.”

The making of 'The Dappled Light of the Sun'

‘The Dappled Light of the Sun’ is the largest sculptural work Conrad Shawcross RA has ever created. Take a look behind the scenes to see how it has been made.

A paperback book entitled ‘The Dappled Light of the Sun’ will be published in June 2015. It includes photography of the works in situ as well as working drawings, structural diagrams and a text by the architecture writer Patrick Sykes. RA Publications, £9.95

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